Interesting Article: Web vs. Print

Recall Ability: Web Content Versus Print Content discusses how people use web media differently than printed media. It argues that people are much more goal-oriented when on the web.

This jibes with an observation of mine: more computer-literate people move their eyes less when navigating a program or surfing the Internet. It appears that they do a quick scan to identify what they need to do next, then do it. Less computer-literate people spend more time reading everything on the screen. I contextualize this using the hours and hours and hours I wasted when first using the Internet. German guinea pigs, water garden supplies and plants, diaper-fetishists, the world at my fingertips - days were drained from my life. My time is more precious now, so I only use the web when Googling something or buying a book on Amazon. If my next step isn't readily apparent, or there are too many options, I get frustrated quickly.

The article further goes on to state that we are using the web as a personal memory upgrade: I don't need to remember who Samuel Adams was, a quick glance at Wikipedia gives me everything I could possibly use. Can't remember who did a song? Query Google using the one line you can remember.

I see two content stereotypes emerging for computers: games and the super-functional use of the web.

I think that both these facts - the task-focused use of the web and the reliance on computers as know-all references - should inform how we use the web for performance support and will also impact the expectations people have of CBTs and other computer-based media. The less like a game your CBT is, the more streamlined and to-the-point it has to be.